Vote: Who is the 2023 Kentucky Football Player of the Year?

We give you seven candidates to choose from

The high school football season is beginning to wrap up across the country and we start to take a closer look at player of the year awards.

But first, we want to let the fans decide on who they believe are the players most deserving before we here at SBLive Sports start naming the top performers of the 2023 season.

We head into the Appalachian region and to the great state of Kentucky and we ask the question: Who was the 2023 Kentucky Football Player of the Year? 

This list consists of seven worthy candidates and we're asking for your help as the fan to vote on who you believe had the best season this fall.

Voting will end on January 13th, 2024. 

Editor’s note: Our corresponding poll is intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. This poll is specifically for fans to vote on the players that have been nominated and in no way discredits any other player that may not be mentioned in our poll.

Here are the nominations: 

Brady Atwell, QB, Owensboro Catholic: The Class 2A Player of the Year has undeniably some of the most impressive numbers of any quarterback on the East Coast. The junior completed 301-of-434 passes for 4,743 yards and a ridiculous 68 touchdowns. On the ground, Atwell rushed for 695 yards and scored 17 times. 

William Carrico, WR/DB, Owensboro Catholic: Carrico had to be one of the country’s most valuable when it came to playing both sides of the ball. The senior on offense caught 95 passes for 1,922 yards and scored 30 touchdowns. Defensively at strong safety, Carrico made 106 tackles, 10.5 for loss and intercepted six passes. 

Luke Pennington, QB, Sayre: If you looked at the last name and did a double take, that’s because the junior’s father played in the NFL. Son of former NFL’er Chad Pennington, the signal caller was literally perfect throwing the ball, with 2,555 yards, 50 touchdowns and zero interceptions. 

Cameron O’Hara, QB, Cooper: The sophomore quarterback has a very bright future ahead of him. O’Hara this past season completed 239-of-367 passes for 3,561 yards, 49 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Scary part is he’s got two more seasons ahead. 

Austin Alexander, TE/DE, Cooper: Alexander was another two-way stud that pretty much never left the field. The junior on offense was O’Hara’s safety blanket, catching 67 passes for 1,138 yards and 19 touchdowns. As an edge rusher, Alexander tallied 78 tackles, nine for loss and 19 sacks. 

Daniel Thomas, RB, Bell County: Like Atwell at the top of this list, Thomas had himself a season to remember. The senior running back was seemingly unstoppable all season long, rushing for a nation-leading 3,828 yards on 396 carries, scoring 54 touchdowns. 

Johnathan Griffin, DE, Franklin County: The senior edge rusher led the entire state when it came to sacks and tackles for loss. Griffin finished his high school career with 86 tackles, 37 went for a loss and 23 sacks.